


Trickster Steals the Moon

by Fialleril



Series: Double Agent Vader [9]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Double Agent Vader, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Original Mythology, Slavery, Spies & Secret Agents, Storytelling, Tatooine Slave Culture, Tricksters, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 13:02:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6659119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fialleril/pseuds/Fialleril
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of how Depur stole the moon from the sky, and how Ekkreth the Trickster stole it back thrice over.</p><p>(But that's no moon...)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trickster Steals the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been wanting to write something like this for a while, and finally did it: a fic that’s half Ekkreth trickster-tale, and half Anakin’s history as a double agent, where the stories interconnect and Anakin’s actions exist within the sacred tradition of storytelling.
> 
> This one is set almost immediately after _Optimal Functioning_ , and just before ANH.
> 
> The myth in this is the origin story for the holy week of [Marokkepu](http://fialleril.tumblr.com/post/133903061971/holy-week-of-marokkepu), of which Maru is the central hero. Her name means “water,” and she’s considered one of the great prophets.

There are as many Ekkreth stories as there are slaves on Tatooine, which is to say, there are stories without number, and more every day.

This is one of them.

*

One day, as Ekkreth was going along, they came upon Depur and his chief slavers gathered in the marketplace. All the people were gathered too, and their hearts were heavy and they trembled with fear.

So Ekkreth took an old woman’s shape and came and stood at the edge of the crowd, far from Depur. And they asked the people standing near, “Why are you afraid, children of the Mother? Has Depur done something to hurt you?”

But they only trembled all the more.

Then Ekkreth pressed them, and at last a child answered. Her name was Maru, and she said, “Depur always hurts us, Grandmother. But now he has done something far worse. He has taken the moon from the sky, and now the water will never come again.”

When Ekkreth heard this they grew very quiet. For the moon, as all Ar-Amu’s children know, is the water-giver, and without water there is no life.

But Depur said that he was their life. That the water would come now not from the moon, but from him. And so his slaves would be always bound to him, and even the secret places of Ekkreth in the desert would be no refuge, but only places of dryness and death.

Then Ekkreth the old woman cried out, “Oh great Master, how have you done this thing? For surely only a very mighty power could pull the moon from the sky!”

And Depur laughed, pleased that at last his slaves acknowledged the fullness of his power. Then he said, “I will show you, so that you may know how great Depur is, and how unassailable my strength.”

And he commanded his overseers to open the great soldered doors of his palace so that the people might see within. Then all the people cried out in anguish, for they saw the moon caught there in a net of many chains, and the water that fell from it dripped down through the floor into a great cistern, and this too was guarded by many overseers.

But later, when Depur had sent all the people back to their work, with much laughter and the stroke of the whip, then Ekkreth took on a form like to one of Depur’s overseers, and they came and presented themself to Depur and said, “O Master, truly you are great and unassailable. But I have heard murmurings among your slaves, when they speak, as they think, in secret. And they say that Ekkreth the troublesome plans to steal the moon from you!”

Then Depur grew very angry, and he raged and stormed about his palace in wrath, but at last he turned with a snarl to the one he thought was an overseer and said, “Ekkreth is called clever, or so I hear, but no one will rob me of this prize.”

So Ekkreth bowed low before Depur and said – 

*

“What is thy bidding, my Master?”

Anakin knelt, his head bowed and shoulders hunched, and made no effort to hold back the wheeze of his breath. Master needed him still, even after his failure to capture the Rebel Ekkreth. The Emperor would not risk his apprentice’s death, not even to satisfy his rage. If he believed Vader to be more severely injured than he was in truth, well, that was simply the result of his apprentice’s weakness, and certainly no deception. Vader never lied to his Master.

“Your failure,” Emperor Palpatine said sourly, “has made the security of our most essential project all the more imperative. I wonder, Lord Vader, if you can even be trusted with it.”

At that Anakin did allow himself to look up. His breath sharpened. “My Master, I assure you – ”

“Silence,” the Emperor snapped. “You are in no position to assure me of anything.”

He stood, stepping away from his throne and moving to the large bank of glass that overlooked the skylanes of Coruscant. The last light of the failing sun shone around him, gilding the air and leaving the Emperor’s form a dark shadow. Anakin remained on his knees.

“You will report to Moff Tarkin on the Death Star,” Vader’s Master said, an edge of cruel laughter in his voice. “I am charging you – ”

*

“ – with the safety of my prize,” Depur declared. “The moon and all its water belong to me alone, and I am Lord and Master of Tatooine, of all its people and its animals and the desert itself. If you are faithful in your watch, I will make you chief overseer of all my slaves. But if you should fail, and Ekkreth should gain entrance, you will beg me for death before the end.”

So Ekkreth bowed low once more and said, “It will be as you say, my Master.” And they took charge of all the guards that Depur had set on the moon.

But that night, a terrible darkness came over the whole of the desert, because the moon had been stolen from the sky and did not give its light, and all the stars had turned dark with grief.

Then all the slaves arose in the middle night, just as Ekkreth had instructed them, and they began to sing and dance for joy in the streets.

So Ekkreth came and knocked with trembling hands on Depur’s chamber door, and when Depur emerged they said, “Forgive me, my Master, for disturbing your rest. But my guards report that Ekkreth is abroad in the city, and all your slaves are singing in the streets.”

Then Depur was full of anger, and he rushed out to his balcony and cried down to the people, “Slaves of Depur, what reason can you have for rejoicing?”

But Maru led all the people in answering, and she said, “O Master, we rejoice because the water has come!”

Now Depur knew that this was impossible, since he held the moon secure in many chains. So he turned to Ekkreth and said, “What is it these foolish slaves are talking about?”

And Ekkreth said, “My Master, I do not know. And it is too dark without the moon to tell.”

Then Depur frowned to himself, and he thought long and hard, and finally he said, “Take a piece of the moon, only a small one, enough to see by, and go out in the streets and find what it is they are celebrating. For surely without the moon they can have no water.”

So Ekkreth bowed to Depur, and they went to the place where the moon was chained and they took from it a portion of its light, only a third portion, so that the moon was dimmed but still strong in its radiance. And Ekkreth went out into the streets to investigate.

They visited every hovel and every kennel and every place in which the slaves were kept, and everywhere Ekkreth went, they brought the piece of the moon, and with it gave water to all the people. And finally Ekkreth came to the hovel where Maru was, and asked if the people there had a secret place. Then Maru ran to her mother and whispered to her, and darted out of the room, and when she returned, she held a small earthenware jar, painted blue.

So Ekkreth took the piece of the moon and hid it away in the jar, and they gave the jar to Maru and said, “You, daughter, who speak so wisely for the people, shall be keeper of this jar.”

And Maru thanked Ekkreth and said, “I will keep it always safe.”

Then Ekkreth returned to Depur’s palace, and made a great show of returning the piece of the moon to its prison. But the light the moon gave remained dimmer than it had been.

And the next morning Ekkreth came trembling before Depur, and bowed, and said, “My Master, I know not how it happened, but someone has given your slaves water in the night, though the moon remains here in your power.”

Then Depur was filled with a terrible rage, and he said – 

*

“You will take your orders from Moff Tarkin, and he will expect full obedience. You may consider this your penance, Lord Vader.”

“Yes, my Master,” said Anakin. In the storm of his thoughts, there was a helpless rage, mingled with fear, resentment, and ever-present loathing. He allowed just enough contrition to draw his Master’s disdain, but he did not allow himself to think that penance was an aptly chosen word, or to consider why.

“Understand this, Vader,” the Emperor said. “I hold you personally responsible for the security of the Death Star. It is vital to the continued enforcement of order and stability in the galaxy.”

Now at last the Emperor turned from the view of his mighty Empire and his baleful eyes fell once more on his apprentice. A slow, mocking smile slashed its way across his face. “The station’s power will need to be tested, of course,” he said. “I trust Governor Tarkin to select an appropriate target. And you, Lord Vader, will assist him. We must be certain that our greatest peacekeeping tool lives up to its promise.”

The desert of Anakin’s mind raged with storm, seething and all-consuming. He made no effort to stop it. Anything the Emperor might see there would be expected – his distaste for the Death Star was well-known to his Master. That was, after all, the point of this assignment. And he had known it would be.

Deep down, buried far beneath the raging sand and storm, so deep that Anakin himself was only half-aware of it, a quiet dread was growing.

And yet it had to be this way. He had always known this, had even intended it, when he had planned for the success of Fulcrum’s mission on Kuat and his own failure to capture Ekkreth.

And so he dipped his head once more, ground his teeth, and said, “Yes, my Master.”

“In spite of your incompetence, Lord Vader,” his Master said, “the Rebellion can offer no serious threat to us. This spy Ekkreth – ”

*

“ – is no threat,” said Depur. “Ekkreth is well known for tricks, but I will not be fooled. Let the trickster see what it means to defy Depur.”

And so, on the second night Depur locked all of his slaves into their hovels and kennels, and he ordered thick, durasteel bars to be set over any windows. And then he said, “Now surely no one can bring them water, and I alone will be Master of the Desert.”

But again that night, after the deep darkness had fallen, suddenly all the people began to sing and rejoice, and they sang so loudly that the noise of it reached Depur. Then he called for his chief overseer, who was Ekkreth, and he said, “Go, take a piece of the moon as light and see what it is that my slaves are clamoring over.”

And Ekkreth went, taking again a third of the moon’s light, and going from hovel to hovel, opening all the locks and releasing all the chains. And everywhere Ekkreth went, they brought the piece of the moon, and from it gave water to all the people.

Last of all Ekkreth came to the hovel where Maru was, and once more she went and found an earthenware jar, larger this time and painted green, and in this jar they hid the piece of the moon.

And then Ekkreth went back to Depur’s palace, and made a great show of returning the piece of the moon that they had taken. But the moon’s light remained dim, for it shone now with only a third part of its radiance.

But Depur suspected nothing, for – 

*

Governor Tarkin, Anakin found, was only more insufferable when he was assured of his power. He relished his control over Darth Vader and made no secret of it.

“I wish you could just kill him,” Kadee said, her servos humming as she worried over Anakin’s secondary respirator, which had been damaged in his last meeting with Depur.

Anakin sat perfectly still in his hyperbaric chamber, partly because the numerous tubes connecting his body to the device made it difficult to do otherwise, but mainly because he’d have to face Kadee’s wrath if he so much as attempted to move.

“So do I,” he said drily. “But that’s the trouble with being demoted. You can’t just kill your superiors. You need a very good excuse.”

“I suppose Depur wouldn’t believe that Tarkin is a traitor?” Kadee asked, though they both already knew the answer. Tarkin was and always had been the Emperor’s favorite Moff.

“No,” said Anakin. “But at least he can be managed.”

Kadee buzzed in excitement. “What did you do?”

Here in the privacy of his medical pod, with no one but Kadee to hear, Anakin allowed himself a slight laugh. “There’s some trouble in the exhaust system,” he said. “A minor problem, but the Emperor’s pet project must be without flaw. Our wise Moff has heard, no doubt from Depur, that I have an aptitude for mechanical study, and has charged me with going over the plans to find the flaw.”

It was meant, of course, to be degrading – such menial work should have been delegated to junior officers, and Vader should only have been dealing with their reports. Anakin thought he’d made quite a good show of barely controlled resentment when Tarkin “asked” him to look into the plans. Certainly the Moff had seemed pleased with himself.

Kadee let out a rapid string of trilling beeps: her version of laughter.

“Would you like to help?” Anakin asked with a smile.

“Well, that depends,” said Kadee. “Will you sit still long enough for me to repair your respirator?”

Anakin let out a longsuffering sigh. Or tried to, anyway. It ended on a wheeze, which wasn’t particularly helpful for his argument. “Very well,” he said stiffly. “I’m not expected to report for several hours. That should be enough time.”

“Just enough,” said Kadee, clacking one of her claw-like appendages at him in disapproval.

“I’ll need to have something to report,” Anakin prodded unrepentantly. But she couldn’t really have expected anything different.

“Oh all right,” the little droid said at last.

Anakin smiled to himself as he brought up the schematics, the plans he’d tried for years now to gain access to. In the end, it had been simple enough. He’d only needed to fail in just the right way.

It was an old lesson. Depur’s power lay in strength and absolute control. But Ekkreth – 

*

– made weakness their strength. They bowed low before Depur the next morning and said, “O great Master, though all the doors were locked and all the windows barred, still someone has brought water to your slaves in the night.”

And Depur was very angry indeed with his chief enforcer, but clever Ekkreth said, “My Master, your slaves do not fear me, nor any of your enforcers, because they believe that their Mother watches over them, and sends them water in the night, and they expect still that Ekkreth the deceiver will trick you, and steal back the moon. For they do not see you, great Depur, not as we do. Your slaves are insolent because they see that we are only mortal. But if you will go among them and show forth your power, surely then they will cower and acknowledge you Master of the Desert.”

Now Depur was pleased with this counsel, for he was very arrogant. And he went out among the people and found them all at work in their places, and every slave cowered as he passed by, for Ekkreth had told the people what they should do.

Then Depur came to the place where Maru worked, cleaning the pens of Depur’s beasts, and he recognized her as the girl who had spoken fearlessly to him before. So he said to her, “Well, girl. Now you have seen the might of Depur and the futility of opposing me. Are you so defiant now? What do you say to me?”

But Maru stood up straight and looked Depur in the eye. And she said, “My Master, you are great and terrible indeed, and all tremble before you. But even you, though you steal the moon from the sky, cannot keep the water from us. For Ar-Amu protects us.”

And then Depur flew into a towering rage, so that all the people shrank back before him, but he was not appeased, and in his fury he ordered that all his slaves should be locked away, though it was not yet the middle of the day, and forbidden from leaving their hovels. And so it was done.

So all the people rested that day, for they had been taken from their work, and no labor was done for all the rest of that day.

Then Ekkreth said, “My Master, surely now –

*

– the Rebels will learn to fear this station.” Anakin held himself stiff, almost at attention, and waited until Tarkin glanced up from his report. He allowed himself a smile that Tarkin would never see. “But you are a fool, Governor, if you think that will be enough to end this rebellion.”

Tarkin’s face twisted in a sneer. There was no one else present, and Anakin had learned long ago that the Moff’s icy veneer of civility was only kept for company. That was fair enough. After all, the same was true of Vader himself.

“You forget yourself, Vader,” Tarkin snapped. “The Rebellion remains a threat because of your incompetence.” Now his sneer became something crueler: a smile. “The Emperor did not give you to me as a military advisor. I suggest you remember that.”

“I assure you,” Anakin said, “I remember it always.”

Tarkin looked as him sharply, but whatever he was looking for, he could find no evidence of it in Vader’s blank death mask. “Very well,” he said at last. “You are dismissed.” Even as he spoke, he was already turning back to his report.

Anakin waited a moment longer, because the appearance of insolence was vital, and because he could feel Tarkin’s annoyance surging in waves and he was not above enjoying it. But finally and without a word, he spun on his heel and left the Moff to his report full of lies and to the false certainty –

*

– of his power. So certain was Depur, in fact, that he declared he would celebrate his absolute victory with a great feast the next day, when the water did not come. And he went to sleep that night with a cruel smile on his face.

But late in the night, out of the deep darkness, once more the song of the slaves rose to the shadowed stars. They sang more joyfully and loudly than ever before, and their song was so great that it woke Depur from his sleep. Then in a rage he called his chief enforcer to him, and said, “Go, take a piece of the moon as light and go out and see what causes my slaves to make this clamor. And I give you leave to do whatever is necessary to stop their yowling.”

So Ekkreth went once more and took a third part of the moon’s light, so that the moon became a dead thing with no brightness to it, and they went out to all the hovels and the kennels, opening locks and removing chains. And everywhere Ekkreth went, they brought the piece of the moon and gave water to the people.

And last of all Ekkreth came to the house where Maru was, and again she went and came back with an earthenware jar, this one the largest of all, and it was painted red. And in this jar Ekkreth hid the last piece of the moon, and then they gave it into Maru’s keeping, and returned to Depur’s palace.

And when the morning came and Depur learned that someone had once more brought water to his slaves in the night, then he was filled with a terrible cold fury, and he struck his chief enforcer, who was Ekkreth, and said, “You have failed me, and I regret the day I made you my chief enforcer.”

Then at last Depur went to the place where the moon was kept imprisoned, and he ordered the guards to unbar the doors so that he might see his prize. But when he went in, he saw only a dead hunk of rock, for all the light had gone out of the moon. And the guards seeing Depur’s face trembled with fear.

But Ekkreth laughed. “Know this, O my Master,” they said. “I am Ekkreth, and I have tricked you. You can never hold the moon, and you can never hold me.”

And then, still laughing, Ekkreth became a bird and flew away, and Depur was left with only a dead lump of stone, and the song of his slaves ringing in his ears.

But that night the deep darkness fell again, for there was no moon in the sky. And the slaves were once more locked in their hovels and kennels, but again Ekkreth came in the night and broke all the chains and released them.

Then Maru and her parents took the three earthenware jars that they had hidden, and opened them beneath the sky. And Maru prayed to Ar-Amu, saying, “O Mother, hear the cry of your children. For without the moon we are lost. Deliver us.”

And Ar-Amu heard her, and the three jars split asunder and their light rose into the sky. But they did not join again. On that night, Ar-Amu worked a great wonder, for three new moons rose in the sky. From the smallest jar, painted blue, arose Echuni, the little secret, the hidden one, who shines with a blue light, and who moves swiftest through the sky, the smallest of the moons. From the second jar, painted green, there arose Tenarakin, the grower, the one who makes the green things to grow, who shines with a double portion of Echuni’s light, and is the midmost of the moons, moving neither swift nor slow. And from the last jar, painted red, arose Amakuuna, the Mother’s promise, who shines with a great radiance, mightiest of all the moons, whose path is slow and deliberate across the sky, and who shines with a red light on the night of Bentu Depuraak, to mark Ar-Amu’s promise to the people that they will be free, and there will be a Reckoning of the Masters.

So that is the tale of how Depur stole the moon from the sky, and how Ekkreth the Sky-walker stole it back thrice over, and Maru gave light and water to the world. Let all the people remember.

I tell you this story – 

*

“ – to save your life,” Anakin whispered, though the connection had already been cut, and Leia would not have understood anyway.

But she would see it done. He had no doubt of that. The plans were safe in her hands, and Depur’s monstrous false moon would not long remain in the sky. And Tarkin would not outlive it.

_I tell you this story to save your life._

“I will remember,” said Kadee beside him, and it was enough.

*

There are as many Ekkreth stories as there are slaves on Tatooine, which is to say, there are stories without number, and more every day.

This is one of them.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Trickster Steals the Moon (podfic)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6928201) by [darlingsweet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingsweet/pseuds/darlingsweet), [Fialleril](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fialleril/pseuds/Fialleril)
  * [[Podfic of] Trickster Steals the Moon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226652) by [isweedan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isweedan/pseuds/isweedan)




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